A JOURNEY IN SEARCH
OF BOXING GOLD: by Brian Zelley
(for some of us it would be a six month journey on the roller coaster ride
when the action first began in December 1967 at a club show)
from the Pacific Northwest: Earl McLeay,
Frank Scott, Jack Meda,
Brian Zelley, Darryl Olsen, Freddy Fuller , Dick Findlay, Dave Wylie.
Between January to May 1968, many boxers would begin the journey
from competition to decide on the BC Team for the Tacoma Golden Gloves
to the Canadian Championships and Olympic Trials. Some would not be
there for the first event in January, but would be there for much of
the ride through the Tacoma, Oregon, B.C., Seattle Golden Gloves
Tournaments, an all-star card in Seattle, and the mid-May
Championships in Edmonton.
THE BEGINNING - 14 senior boxers step forward to begin the ordeal.
It all started January 5, 1968 with 14 boxers facing potential
elimination from making it to the
TACOMA GOLDEN GLOVES.
The boxers in no particular order were:
Eddie Ostapovich, Nicky MacDonald, Jake Wiebe, John Carr, Brian Gray
Jim Dixon, Chester Douglas, Dave Allerdice, Ron McEachern, Derek Austin,
Brian Zelley, Ken Henderson, Pat O'Reilly jr, and Les Vegas.
Of this initial group of 14, only six would be there at the final date
in Edmonton along with some other BC boxers that did not make the
first test.
Some of those boxers would
participate in the Tacoma Golden Gloves
along with others such as Wayne Boyce of the Astoria Boxing Club.
In the next tournament, it was the
Oregon Golden Gloves
in Portland, Oregon. Following the prelim
action and the
semi-finals, the seven boxers to make the finals would be:
Frank Scott, Brian Zelley, Jake Wiebe, Earl McLeay,
Dick Findlay, Wayne Boyce and Pat O'Reilly.
1968 BC Golden Gloves
BC BOXERS - finals of the 1968 Golden Gloves:
Bill Taylor, Brian Zelley, Dave Allerdice, Denis Rorick,
Dick findlay, Earl McLeay, Frank Scott, jack Meda, Joe Cooke,
John Carr, Les Vegas, Neil Austin, Nicky MacDoanld, Rick fleck,
Robbie grant, Ted Kellenger
BC boxers in semi-final action:
Dave Johnson, Brian Gray and Dave Codville. and there
were many others in prelim action such as the excellent
performance by Nanaimo's
Tony James vs Wayne Boyce.
1968 Seattle Golden Gloves
A team of 19 BC boxers would make the trip
to this Pacific Northwest AAU Championships and
at the end it was
FREDDY FULLER who shined
the greatest.
THE FINALS IN SEATTLE
(note, correct name spelling: GLENN MCGEE).
All-Star Boxing, Seattle
*For some of the BC boxers on the Seattle card, six days later it was
a trip to Victoria, BC for one of the many London Boxing Club's
Vancouver firefighters: Fuller, Zelley, and Scott.
Diamond Belt and BC Olympic Trials
The Last Gate - 1968 Canadian Nationals
and 1968 Canadian Olympic Boxing Trials.
For the final tournament for those still remaining,
there were 12 plus one BC boxers that woould travel
to Edmonton. The first three to be eliminated in
the ring were
Ken Henderson, Dave Allerdice
and Les Vegas.
And in the finals it was down to nine BC boxers
for the hope of getting a shot on the Olympic team.
The cast of nine:
Frank Scott, Ron MacEachern, Fred Fuller, Dick Findlay,
Chester Douglas, Pat O'Reilly, Rick Fleck,
Darryl Olsen and Earl Mcleay. And the rest is history.
.
Summary
This small piece is only a part of the full
1968 story for BC boxers. Along the way, there were
many other club shows from Victoria to Langley
The names included are a cross section of names of
folks that were there in the ring in major tournaments
but there were many others novice and junior boxers
in the action waiting to step into the open senior
in 1969 or the Seventies such as Alf Cool, John Gamble and Gordie Lawson.
but their own combined journey is another story parts of which
have been told and shared.
